A big weekend for college programs as they head into mid season meets. What are your predictions for the MIAA?

Albion already had their mid season meet and swam well at the Wabash Invite. Both men and women put up impressive times. Most notable for the women was Eding (23.9/52.3/56.6) and Erickson (5:08/1:55/53), who led the way for a deep women's squad. On the men's side, where was Kozycki? His only result is on the B 200 medley; where he swam free. Is he okay? Even without Kozycki, the men stepped it up and put up impressive times. How much rest did they get?

At the Calvin Invite we have Calvin and Kzoo. The question for Calvin is how fast will they be? Iturbe has had a great season so far and should put up impressive times. How fast will their relays go? Anger, Shaker, and Howery lead the way for the Kzoo men, and the talented freshmen girls lead the way for the women.

Hope is at Wheaton. Keith will be the one to watch on the men's side. Swimming fast so far this season in various events, but what will he swim here? The IM's? More sprint free? Peel, Schaefer will lead the way for the women.

Alma and Olivet are at Cathage. Olivet's Erickson will be exciting to watch; while Alma's big freshmen class will have the opportunity to have some rest.

As far as Albion goes, I thought their invitational went reasonably well. Pretty sure Mac Robertson got a PR in the 500, and freshman Fogel wasn't too far behind him. Not all of their guys looked like they had a particularly fast midseason meet, though (Ciemnecki comes to mind, as well as most of the men's relays). If I had to guess, I'd say they didn't rest very much or some didn't rest at all, and some people did a bit better with the short amount of rest. I don't know where Kozycki was, but hopefully he comes back soon. I also was bummed that Albion's men 2 free relay was DQd in the finals. Looking forward to seeing how fast they can go at the conference meet.

The Calvin Invitational has always been the midseason meet to watch for the MIAA - big D2 hitters bring the best out of the hornets and the knights, should be fun! Even more fun with some greedy predictions, so lets get to it!

Individuals:Britton time trials thursday night and throws down an outrageous time in the 100fr - 43.9 (and then he repeats it later in the season this time) - he later puts up a cool 48.8 in the 100fly and a 19 whatever in the 50Iturbe - does he taper as well as he duels? I say yes, 138.7 200fr lead off on the relay, 4:29 500frTimmy boy Rambo - punches his nationals ticket early with a 1:39 on the 800fr relay and carries the momentum on through the meetNathan Olberding finds himself on the same A relay and goes 1:41, puts up a 1:54 200flyShaker gets outshined as usual but goes 1:42 in the 200frAnger throws a big 55 in the 100brstStille swims something, anything

Relays:200medley - three Holstege's and a Britton walk into a bar... they go a 1:28, kzoo wishes they were that cool400medley - one of calvin's breastrokers decides to break their deathpack to improve at the exact same rate and go a 56, no idea who. kzoo performs much better here200fr - calvin logs three 19's and goes sub 1:20, kzoo wishes they were cool again400fr - kzoo realizes Anger can do 100brst faster than 100fr and make him lead off, calvin takes advantage of their newly consistent Britton and go sub 3:00800fr - kzoo puts up a good time here with a strong shaker lead, calvin puts up a better one with a stronger Iturbo lead followed by bholstege Olberding and Randal

Can calvin beat gvsu and nmu in any relays? how hard do the newly reinstated kzoo men hit? how do the calvin women relays look without a vanharn backpack to hop in? does that new squad of kzoo women bite as good as they bark (or get barked for rather)? Does hope show up halfway through just because they can? All will be revealed in a few days, see you on the other side!

Eurus wrote:The Calvin Invitational has always been the midseason meet to watch for the MIAA - big D2 hitters bring the best out of the hornets and the knights, should be fun! Even more fun with some greedy predictions, so lets get to it!

Individuals:Britton time trials thursday night and throws down an outrageous time in the 100fr - 43.9 (and then he repeats it later in the season this time) - he later puts up a cool 48.8 in the 100fly and a 19 whatever in the 50Iturbe - does he taper as well as he duels? I say yes, 138.7 200fr lead off on the relay, 4:29 500frTimmy boy Rambo - punches his nationals ticket early with a 1:39 on the 800fr relay and carries the momentum on through the meetNathan Olberding finds himself on the same A relay and goes 1:41, puts up a 1:54 200flyShaker gets outshined as usual but goes 1:42 in the 200frAnger throws a big 55 in the 100brstStille swims something, anything

Relays:200medley - three Holstege's and a Britton walk into a bar... they go a 1:28, kzoo wishes they were that cool400medley - one of calvin's breastrokers decides to break their deathpack to improve at the exact same rate and go a 56, no idea who. kzoo performs much better here200fr - calvin logs three 19's and goes sub 1:20, kzoo wishes they were cool again400fr - kzoo realizes Anger can do 100brst faster than 100fr and make him lead off, calvin takes advantage of their newly consistent Britton and go sub 3:00800fr - kzoo puts up a good time here with a strong shaker lead, calvin puts up a better one with a stronger Iturbo lead followed by bholstege Olberding and Randal

Can calvin beat gvsu and nmu in any relays? how hard do the newly reinstated kzoo men hit? how do the calvin women relays look without a vanharn backpack to hop in? does that new squad of kzoo women bite as good as they bark (or get barked for rather)? Does hope show up halfway through just because they can? All will be revealed in a few days, see you on the other side!

Bold predictions. A lot of big time drops being predicted here. Would love to see these come to fruition!

Would love to see it even more if all those predicted times were repeated at the end of the year where they were competitive at the national meet, instead of just being eye candy for midseason.

Women 800 Free Relay:Calvin gets 2nd behind Grand Valley, going 7:40. Last year Calvin was 7:34 with Van Harn and Engle on the A relay. Engle was missing this year from the A relay, but I can't seem to find who was on their B and C relays. Calvin B and C go 7:53 and 8:04, respectively, and Kalamazoo A goes 8:04.

Men's mile:Only 3 MIAA entries in this event: Howrey from Kzoo goes a 16:33 for a very solid midseason swim, Goins of Calvin goes 17:12 (which is a bit off his time of 16:37 last year), and Timmer goes 17:23.

Women's mile:No Serino here for Calvin. Murphy goes 18:10 and Ellens goes 18:17, which I think is a PR. Trimble is Kzoo's best finish at 18:28.

Men 800 Free Relay:Eurus very close on his Iturbe lead off prediction: he goes 1:38.5 for a solid PR (just faster than the predicted 1:38.7). Bolstege follows in a 1:39, Randall in 1:44 was next, and Olberding with a nice 1:42 to finish in 6:44.8 for a very good midseason time.

**edit: apparently, Randall anchored the relay and Olberding was 3rd**

Calvin's B and C relays were 6:58 and 7:03. Churchwell led off the B in 1:42, and 3 freshmen (Miner, Creeks, and Sparks) went 1:44 1:45 1:44 for a very good B relay. Son of Gelderloos went a nice 1:43 on the C relay.

Kalamazoo ended up with a 7:09, with Shaker leading off in a 1:43. Nobody else was under 1:46 on the relay.

As was not totally unexpected, Calvin is starting off their midseason meet very strongly. Two splits under 1:40 on the 8 free relay is always cool.

Soldier: "You're not William Wallace! William Wallace is seven feet tall!"Wallace: "Yes, I’ve heard, and if he were here today, he’d consume the English with fireballs from his eyes, and lighting bolts from his arse."

Albion MVP - TK - 57 is a great spot for this guy to be at midseason. Way ahead of last year.Honorable mention - Huttenlocher & Mac - Jake is just good. Mac's dsitance free was hot.Other thoughts - The Brits looked good, but where was Kozycki?

Calvin MVP - Julian Iturbo - Rested or not, suited or not, shaved or not or all of the above, ya boi is quick. 45/1:38.5/4:31 and a cool 4:01 in the IM. Honorable mention - Benny Holstege - 47.9 100 back. Other thoughts - Calvin looks awesome... how will they look in February. Lil' Holstege needs to eat some cheeseburgers.

BillyZane wrote:Calvin MVP - Julian Iturbo - Rested or not, suited or not, shaved or not or all of the above, ya boi is quick. 45/1:38.5/4:31 and a cool 4:01 in the IM. Honorable mention - Benny Holstege - 47.9 100 back. Other thoughts - Calvin looks awesome... how will they look in February. Lil' Holstege needs to eat some cheeseburgers.

Scratch that, Billy. Lil' Gelderlily is the MVP, according to the MIAA.

-Iturbe answered all his doubters on the forum(myself included) and dropped some absolutely ridiculous time. It will be interesting to see how tapered he is for MIAA’s and if he is able to maintain this form all the way through NCAA’s.

-Ben Holstege not only an insane 100 back, but he also had some good swims in his other two events as well.

-Noah Holstege went a 20.78 in his 50 free, but only went a 48.4 in his 100. It’ll be interesting to see if he can develop stamina throughout the season.

-Fear swam well despite his hometown Georgia Bulldogs blowing the SEC Championship Game to Bama.

-Skyler Fish is healthy again.

-Matt Howrey would’ve been Kzoo’s swimmer of the meet if it wasn’t for Grant Stille making his triumphant return. I know he only swam 50’s, but he went lifetime bests in not only his flat start 50, but also in the relays where he dropped a ridiculous 20.3 split. Glad to see him back for Kzoo.

-Michael Orwin also went a lifetime best in not only his 100 fly, but his 50 free as well with a 21.6 leadoff on the Kalamazoo B Relay.

-Grant Anger showed his range and broke 5:00 in the 500.

-I would like to crown Kalamazoo’s Scott Roberts as the new Ryan Johnson. In both prelims and finals he went a 21.88 and according to College Swimming, he’s done this time at least 6 other times, but hasn’t broken it yet. We have spent almost two years looking for a worthy succesor to Ryan Johnson’s ability to go the exact same 50 time and I believe Roberts is the man to carry that mantle into a new era.

-Finally, the results don’t show it but Jacob Lensing time trialed a 200 fly along with Jared Britton and a female teammate. He tried to quit at the 100 fly, but was urged(forced?) to carry on by his teammates despite attempting to stop at almost every single wall. In a truly courageous exhibition of perserverance, Lensing surprisingly finished the race despite swimming about as fast as one of those old ladies who you see in a lap swimming pool. He finished with an absolutely blistering time of around 2:30, winning the hearts of many, and the laughs of many more. As this event is above Lensing’s usual 50 yard range, is it possible that Dan made him do this swim as a punishment?

Unfortunately, all these times are wrong. The official results from this heat was adjusted by adding .17. Personally, I don't think that was enough. Check out their finals swims or 200 free relays splits leadoffs. All 8 people in this heat were faster in prelims than finals. The average dude from this heat added more than .5 at night.

This is unfortunate as it could potentially knock someone out of NCAAs, that is if Britton doesn't close to that time again.

Just for reference, Britton was 20.3 adjusted, 20.9 in finals and 20.3 relay take off. This pattern holds pretty true for all guys in this heat, except Jack Bruce from GVSU.

ncognito wrote:This is unfortunate as it could potentially knock someone out of NCAAs, that is if Britton doesn't close to that time again.

Just for reference, Britton was 20.3 adjusted, 20.9 in finals and 20.3 relay take off. This pattern holds pretty true for all guys in this heat, except Jack Bruce from GVSU.

To be fair Britton responded well to the competition at the Calvin invite last year as well, going a 20.3 there but not being able to go faster at MIAA or at NCAA. Now with Iturbe and Britton seeming to feed off of each other this year I would expect both of them to swim out of their minds, as long as they can be mentally prepped.

RollTide wrote:-Finally, the results don’t show it but Jacob Lensing time trialed a 200 fly along with Jared Britton and a female teammate. He tried to quit at the 100 fly, but was urged(forced?) to carry on by his teammates despite attempting to stop at almost every single wall. In a truly courageous exhibition of perserverance, Lensing surprisingly finished the race despite swimming about as fast as one of those old ladies who you see in a lap swimming pool. He finished with an absolutely blistering time of around 2:30, winning the hearts of many, and the laughs of many more. As this event is above Lensing’s usual 50 yard range, is it possible that Dan made him do this swim as a punishment?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

This is not Jake Lensing's first battle with the 200 fly. He is not known for shying away from a challenge... even if the challenge is moving that massive upper body 200 yards swimming butterfly. He swam it in a dual meet last year if I recall, and he barely survived the race. This was a rematch for honor and glory. Also it is hilarious and probably made his team laugh and smile - which is worth it 100%.

Also from what I have heard.. him and Goins have an ongoing battle of 200 yard freestyles all out at the end of practices (no matter how bad the set was). How often they do them, what the W/L record is, and what the purpose is, I don't know. But I would love someone to post an update on that.

Soldier: "You're not William Wallace! William Wallace is seven feet tall!"Wallace: "Yes, I’ve heard, and if he were here today, he’d consume the English with fireballs from his eyes, and lighting bolts from his arse."

RollTide wrote:-Finally, the results don’t show it but Jacob Lensing time trialed a 200 fly along with Jared Britton and a female teammate. He tried to quit at the 100 fly, but was urged(forced?) to carry on by his teammates despite attempting to stop at almost every single wall. In a truly courageous exhibition of perserverance, Lensing surprisingly finished the race despite swimming about as fast as one of those old ladies who you see in a lap swimming pool. He finished with an absolutely blistering time of around 2:30, winning the hearts of many, and the laughs of many more. As this event is above Lensing’s usual 50 yard range, is it possible that Dan made him do this swim as a punishment?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Also from what I have heard.. him and Goins have an ongoing battle of 200 yard freestyles all out at the end of practices (no matter how bad the set was). How often they do them, what the W/L record is, and what the purpose is, I don't know. But I would love someone to post an update on that.

I saw the result of Jacob Lensing’s 200 free split in the relay at midseason. My money is on Goins winning over 100% of those races, but based off of midseason times it doesn’t look like those races are helping either of them.

RollTide wrote:-Finally, the results don’t show it but Jacob Lensing time trialed a 200 fly along with Jared Britton and a female teammate. He tried to quit at the 100 fly, but was urged(forced?) to carry on by his teammates despite attempting to stop at almost every single wall. In a truly courageous exhibition of perserverance, Lensing surprisingly finished the race despite swimming about as fast as one of those old ladies who you see in a lap swimming pool. He finished with an absolutely blistering time of around 2:30, winning the hearts of many, and the laughs of many more. As this event is above Lensing’s usual 50 yard range, is it possible that Dan made him do this swim as a punishment?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Also from what I have heard.. him and Goins have an ongoing battle of 200 yard freestyles all out at the end of practices (no matter how bad the set was). How often they do them, what the W/L record is, and what the purpose is, I don't know. But I would love someone to post an update on that.

I saw the result of Jacob Lensing’s 200 free split in the relay at midseason. My money is on Goins winning over 100% of those races, but based off of midseason times it doesn’t look like those races are helping either of them.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I know Jake is at least on the board, but he may have only won a single race. Need confirmation/update!

Soldier: "You're not William Wallace! William Wallace is seven feet tall!"Wallace: "Yes, I’ve heard, and if he were here today, he’d consume the English with fireballs from his eyes, and lighting bolts from his arse."